Dynamo missing four key players for Colorado match

The Dynamo's Scottish coach is getting his first taste of one of the most frustrating aspects of the MLS schedule this week, and he doesn't like it. Actually, no coach in MLS likes it.

Unlike most of the world's top leagues, MLS is playing regular season games during the current FIFA window that allows national teams to call up players. The Dynamo will be without four regular starters Saturday night when they face the Rapids at BBVA Compass Stadium.

Starting midfielders Boniek Garcia and Luis Garrido are with the Honduran national team. Forward Giles Barnes, the Dynamo's leading scorer last year, and center back Jermaine Taylor will be with the Jamaican national team.

"Nobody likes losing players," Coyle said. "You want to have your best players available so as a head coach you can pick your best team. We're not afforded that luxury this week, but what we do know is that the lads out there are chomping at the bit for the opportunity to play."

Coyle, who spent his first decade coaching in his native Scotland and England, is not alone in his frustration. Former Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear, who played for the U.S. national team in the early 90s, also hated having regular season matches during FIFA windows.

If there has been a coach in MLS who has liked playing games during a FIFA window without his national team players, he has never spoken up.

"It happens every single year," Dynamo captain Brad Davis said. "It's definitely not an easy thing to do. It's something I think that Owen and the staff need to get used to because they're not quite used to it. But for us players we've been around it. We know it's going to come."

Davis has been on both sides of MLS' FIFA window dilemma. From 2010 through 2012, he was usually one of the best players left to carry the club while the other stars were with their respective national teams.

Davis was reincorporated back into the U.S. national team in 2013. He was gone for almost every FIFA window during World Cup qualifying in 2013 all the way through to his participation in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

"It doesn't make it any easier," Davis said. "But the positive thing you look at is we talk each and every year about how we're going to need our entire team and how guys are going to get opportunities to showcase themselves and make the most of their moment.

"Saturday is going to be one of those moments. Maybe for a younger guy or a guy who's been here for a couple of years and is really trying to stamp his spot within the group."

The Dynamo's depth will definitely be tested Saturday. Spanish center back Raul Rodriguez, the big off-season acquisition who hasn't played since starting opening day, remains questionable with a right hamstring injury.

Starting midfielder Ricardo Clark will likely miss several weeks with the rib injury he suffered last weekend against the Galaxy. Starting left back DaMarcus Beasley has a tender left hamstring. Nate Sturgis has a hip injury.

The departures should help forward Will Bruin get back in the starting lineup for the first time since opening day. No Dynamo player has suffered most from the coaching change than Bruin, a regular during his four seasons under Kinnear.

"It's definitely different," Bruin said. "It just makes the time when I'm on the field even more important."

He started the season opener, but Coyle pulled him after only 57 minutes. Bruin, who scored a franchise record 16 goals in all competitions in 2012, was relegated to 37 minutes off the bench in the second game of the Coyle era and 11 minutes in the third.

Nobody has scored more goals for the Dynamo than Bruin since he made his debut as a rookie in 2011. In that span, he has scored 35 regular season goals and 41 in all competitions. Moreover, only franchise icon Brian Ching has scored more goals in club history.

Bruin and Davis are tied for second place on the all-time Dynamo scoring list with 41 in call competitions, trailing Ching's 69. The Dynamo have had Bruin on the trade market since last off-season, according to other MLS coaches. Until he is traded, however, Bruin must find a way to prove himself to Coyle.

"Obviously whenever you get an opportunity to play whether it's off the bench for 10 minutes or in a starting role you want to show that you deserve to be in the starting 11," Bruin said. "My job is to make Owen's decision as difficult as possible."

That decision is easier this week for Coyle because of the FIFA window.